Shelf racks



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 R. L. WALKER SHELF RACKS Nov. 29, 1955 Filed Ma 25, 1951 INVENTOR Fig 11101111 L EE Walker,

BY W 7km ATTORNEY Nov. 29, 1955 R. L. WALKER 2,725,149

SHELF RACKS Filed May 25, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR RaymDndLEEWaIkEr,

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- v 26 BY fi)' W 25 ATTORNEY United States Patent SHELF RACKS Raymond Lee Walker, Madison, Wis.

Application May 25, 1951, Serial N 0. 228,200

1 Claim. (Cl. 211-177) This invention relates to a collapsible shelf rack. It is. primarily designed to provide a rack comprising a plurality of shelves adapted to receive ironed clothes and to support the clothes in neat and unmussed piles as the ironing progresses.

When the rack is not in use, its component parts may be folded to occupy a minimum of space.

The invention and its manifold advantages will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: Fig. l is a front elevation of a rack constructed in accordance with the invention and with the parts in folded position;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the structure of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the rack in open condition;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged front elevation of the upper portion of Fig. 1 with the trays or shelves removed;

Fig. 5 is a horizontal sectional view on line 55 of Fig. 4 looking in the direction indicated by the arrow, namely, upwardly toward the cap plate of the rack;

Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional View on line 66 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary view illustrating the break-hinge supports of the two tiers of shelves hereinafter described; and

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary view illustrating the manner of hingedly connecting the shelves of one tier to the link by which the shelves of a tier are caused to move in unison to or from folded position.

Like numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

The particular form of the invention which I have chosen for purposes of illustration, comprises a horizontal wheeled base 5. This base consists of a pair of members each comprising runs 6 and a V-shaped member 7. The ends of the legs of the V-shaped members are integral with the runs 6, and the inner ends of runs 6 are pivotally connected at 8 to the lower ends of vertical standards 9. Casters 10 are secured beneath the standards 9, and together with casters 11, which are disposed beneath and at the outer ends of the V-shaped portions, mount the structure as a whole, for rolling movement. The base, the standards, and a cap plate 12 comprise the frame of the rack. To aid in the ready assembly or disassembly of the structure the upper ends of the stand ards are merely inserted in recesses 13 of the cap plate. Thus, as long as the cap plate is held against movement upwardly with respect to the standards, the standards are held against movement toward or from each other.

Brackets 14, secured to the underside of the cap plate, slidably support rods 15, which carry operating knobs 16. Tips 17, threaded on the inner ends of said rods, permit the complete withdrawal of said rods from the brackets when said tips are removed. The rods are also slidably supported in the side standards 9. As long as the rods are in place, the frame is held in assembled condition, but if the tips 17 are removed and the rods are drawn outwardly to be free of brackets 14 and to permit the cap plate to be lifted, the structuremay be readily disassembled. However, the arrangement of the rods as shown is for more than merely to serve to unite the cap plate and side standards. These rods when drawn outwardly until the tips 17 abutthe brackets, will be held by the brackets and the mountings of the rods in the standards, inrigid horizontal position, so that garments or other articles may be hungthereon either before or after being ironed.

The described frame supports two tiers of shelves. In the present case there are four shelves upon each side of the rack but the number may be varied at will. In the particular arrangement illustrated, there are three upper shelves 18 and one lower shelf 19- at each side of the frame. Each upper shelf is rigidly affixed to a pair of binge brackets 20, whichmounttheshelves on shafts 21. Shafts 21 span the space between the standards and their ends merely enter recesses 22 of the standards, so that when the cap plate is lifted and the standards are permitted to move apart, the shelves and their supporting shafts are released from the'standards without loosening screws or bolts.

By referring to Fig. 7, it will be seen that the eyes 20a of the hinge brackets 20. are so offset with respect to the shelf engaging portions of saidbrackets, that the shelves upon opposite sides of the frame are caused to be flush with each other and lie without overlap, in the same plane and against the outer faces of the standards, when the rack is closed. Also the upper faces of these shelves present smooth and level surfaces upon which freshly ironed garments may be supported in neat and level piles. The pivoting of shelves 18 as described permits said shelves to swing from the open position of Figs. 3 and 7 to the closed position of Figs. 1 and 2. When in open position the shelves are supported by break hinges 23 and links 24. The links 24 extend vertically at one outside corner of each tier of upper shelves and are pivotally connected to the several shelves by L shaped brackets 25. These brackets are riveted or welded to the shelves and their legs are pivoted at 26 to the links.

An important feature of the invention is that the links 24 are located at one outside corner, only, of the shelves. Thus a person seeking to deposit freshly ironed clothes on a shelf finds one side and one end of each shelf completely unobstructed by any supporting media and the clothes may be gently placed on the shelves without being mussed.

The lower shelves 19 are mounted in the same manner by brackets 31 and shafts 21 on standards 9 and are supported when open by break hinges 32. Break hinges 33 maintain the standards perpendicular with respect to the base and their upper ends lie outside of the standards. The hinge eyes 8 of the base members are so offset as to throw the base members outwardly far enough to permit the lower shelves to fold downwardly against the frame and then permit the base sections to fold up wardly against said lower shelves with the shelves and base members lying fiat against and parallel to each other.

While this shelf rack is primarily intended for use as a laundry rack, its utility goes far beyond that, since it may be used in many other relations, as for example by chainbermaids in hotels where bedding and towels must be conveyed from room to room or in hospitals where supplies of many kinds must be transported and distributed. Therefore it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to any particular use nor to the precise construction shown. It includes within its purview any changes falling fairly within either the terms or the spirit of the claims of this application.

Among features deemed to be of particular importance is the manner of assembly in a way such that the mere Patented Nov; 29, 1 955.

removal of the sliding rods 15 permits the frame practically to fall apart; the manner of supporting the shelves so that one end and the front of each shelf is completely unobstructed and the manner of assembly such that the shelves present flush and substantially unbroken surfaces when folded and lie in parallelism with each other and in the same plane when open. This, in addition to the foldable base sections which likewise lie in parallelism with the lower shelves and outside of said shelves, when the rack is folded. It is further to be noted that the links 24 serve the double function of actuating the upper shelves 18 in unison and of holding the shelves in assembled re lation when the rack is collapsed. Thus, in assembling the racks the user does not have to try to pick out which shelf goes in a particular spot. The three shelves are picked up as a unit, held together by links 24 and the ends of their several shafts are inserted in the proper openings in the standards.

I claim:

A knock-down rack comprising a pair of side standards, a cap plate having its under face recessed to receive the upper ends of said standards, shafts spanning the space between said standards and having their ends seated in recesses in the inner faces of the standards, article supporting means carried by said shafts, a bracket depending from the underside of the cap plate and provided with an eye, a rod slidably mounted in the eye of said bracket and slidable through the adiacent side standard, said rod being of a length that when drawn outwardly it may serve as a hanger for garments and its engagement with the bracket preventing movement of the cap plate Off of the standard, a removable stop carried by said rod which when in place prevents complete withdrawal of the rod from the bracket, removal of said stop permitting withdrawal of the rod from the bracket and this in turn permitting disengagement of the cap plate from the side standards and disengagement of the side standards from the ends of said shafts, the length of the rod and the disposition of the stop thereon being such with relation to the bracket that when the rod is drawn outwardly through the standard as far as said stop permits it projects outwardly of the standard far enough to exercise a garment supporting function hile leaving the rod still engaged with the bracket to exercise a cap plate retaining function.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 213,596 Tinkharn Mar. 25, 1879 421,540 Barber Feb. 18, 1890 430,340 Eyles June 17, 1890 638,443 Canedy Dec. 5, 1899 916,273 Coons Mar. 23, 1909 1,275,132 Chernack Aug. 6, 1918 1,408,604 Kawa Mar. 7, 1922 1,563,799 Scherer 1 Dec. 1, 1925 FOREIGN PATENTS 21,157 Great Britain 1893 139,574 Germany Nov. 26, 1934 

